Pacers sign Oshae Brissett to second 10-day contract
Pacers sign Oshae Brissett to second 10-day contract
He appeared in two games, and this stint will expire on April 21.
Oshae Brissett is staying with the Pacers for another 10 days. The forward signed a second 10-day contract on Sunday in Memphis after the expiration of his first one.
The 6-foot-7 forward joined the Pacers on April 1 after quarantining in an Indy hotel for one week.
“The last six days were long,” he said, smiling. “It felt like three months I was in that hotel. I definitely got by by watching film, looking over the plays and getting used to the way we play over here.”
He then appeared in two of the five games during his first 10-day stretch, playing a total of five minutes against the Bulls and Timberwolves.
Against Minnesota, Domas Sabonis and Myles Turner sat out due to injuries and then Goga Bitadze and JaKarr Sampson got in foul trouble, so Brissett spent a couple minutes matching up against two-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns.
“He didn’t see much action there in that first 10-day, but he’s a good player,” head coach Nate Bjorkgren said. “He’s a good player to have on the bench, to have on this team. He knows the system, he knows how we want to play.”
Bjorkgren had a preexisting relationship with Brissett, who’s 22 and went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2019, from their time together with Team Canada and then last season with the Toronto Raptors.
“He’s helped a lot with my shot, workouts and little conversations we have here and there and things he would tell me that would help my career for the long run, the type of player I could be,” Brissett said. “I really trust his opinion because he’s seen guys at all levels. He’s seen people succeed, he’s seen people fail. Listening to him has definitely helped me get to where I am now.”
Pacers GM Chad Buchanan kept in touch with Brissett during the G League bubble, where he led the Mad Ants with 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Once that mini season ended in early March, Brissett went to Arizona to workout and be nearby his agent — just waiting for the call.
“I was very confident with the way I left off in the bubble that something was gonna happen,” he said. “That’s just the mindset I had going into every workout; just stay ready, stay ready. And continue to keep that mindset that I’m gonna be on an NBA team.”
Now that he’s with the Pacers, the message from the front office is to simply be himself, which isn’t easy considering the on-the-job interview and pressure to secure a more permanent position.
“They don’t want me to come in here and do anything out of the ordinary and try to prove that I could do something,” said Brissett. “Right now, my main goal is just to be a great teammate and help us win games whenever I get an opportunity.”
Players may sign up to two 10-day contracts with a team. If the Pacers want to keep Brissett past April 21, they would have to sign him to a full NBA contract.
